JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark is enduring March with some ease as every gray day is followed by a couple of stunning sunny days . . . all promising a green and leafy April, we hope. We know the farmers and gardeners welcome these rainy days, so we try to see the silver lining.

Sunday is Easter and the Chilmark Community Church will host the annual Easter egg search for children at the church at 10:30 a.m., followed by the worship service at 11 a.m.

The Fabulists: Theatre for Children will present a folk tale from Afghanistan entitled The Call of the Cuckoo on Saturday, March 22 at 11 a.m. at the Vineyard Playhouse in Vineyard Haven. The Vineyard Playhouse and the Martha’s Vineyard Library Association sponsor the program.

We all send best wishes to Linda Thompson for a speedy recovery. She suffered a fall while off Island this month and, after a few days in a Boston Hospital, is now at her North Road home mending a broken ankle. We hope to see her out and about soon.

The spring flowers at the entrance to the Chilmark Public Library are an annual and generous gift to the library from the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club. Bonnie George is the club’s chairman for Chilmark and she did the planting this week. The staff and trustees thank her and the patrons will enjoy the colorful spring flowers. Bonnie asks any and all who might be interested in joining the garden club get in touch with her. The club meets monthly throughout the year with interesting programs concerning the ecology, gardening and environmental issues. Please call Bonnie at 508-645-3214 for details of future meetings and events at the club.

The Menemsha Fisheries Development Fund will present Fisheries — Beyond the Crisis, an award-winning documentary film, followed by discussion on Wednesday, March 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the library. The Wednesday night programs are sponsored by the Friends of the Library and are open to all free of charge.

The Chilmark town report of 1895 tells us that there was a drop in the total number of students attending the four town schools. There were 35 pupils enrolled in Menemsha, South, Keephickon and Nomansland schools. The cost of heating the schools and paying the teachers came to $658.05 for the year. The school committee that year apologized for having to buy new geography books due to the many changes in “states, territories and capitals.”

In that same town report Florence B. Mayhew, the librarian, encourages all to come out to town meeting and vote “whether it be for more library, more roads, a lobster or a president.” Then she concludes: How can the women be expected to want to vote if the men do not? She would surely be impressed with how far we have come.

Remember the annual town meeting for 2008 is April 28 at the community center.

Cheers to all for a happy holiday weekend.